With UNICEF Support, Pakistan launches a National Campaign against Child Abuse

Federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education, Samina Khalid Ghurki, seen on the stage at the launch of the National Campaign against Child Abuse.

By Mohammad Ali Fahim

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 10 December 2008 – Last month, on Universal Children's Day, Pakistan launched its National Campaign against Child Abuse. The event brought together children, policymakers, social and development workers, diplomats, representatives of UN agencies, civil society organisations and the media.

The launch is being followed by a two-month, nation-wide communication campaign to create awareness about children's protection rights, and the adoption of a National Plan of Action for Children.

"We must not simply look at the litany of hurdles and injustices unleashed upon children, but also devise strategies to address the different forms of child abuse, exploitation, exclusion and other violations of children's rights," said Federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education, Samina Khalid Ghurki.

UNICEF Representative for Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja, noted that roughly 70 per cent of Pakistani children experience physical and psychological abuse. And that the abuse is not only relegated to the home, but often happens in schools, madrassahs, childcare centres, places of work and entertainment, jails, detention centres and on the streets.